News Article or Opinion Piece?

by Editor
April 8, 2014 at 9:28 am

http://www.smartertimes.com/1180/news-article-or-opinion-piece

Today's New York Times features both a front-page news article and an op-ed page opinion piece about the threat posed by greedy, unlicensed tax preparers. Here's a quiz to see if you can tell the difference between the news article and the opinion piece:

Web headline: "Tax Preparers Targeting the Poor With High Fees"

That was the news article.

Passage from the text:

For millions of low-income Americans, tax season means the biggest one-time influx of money all year. It also means the annual sprouting of commercial tax preparers: some of them big-name franchises, some mom-and-pops and some, as 20-year-old Brittany Dixon discovered this year, shockingly expensive.

That was from the news article, too.

Another passage from the text:

with almost no regulation in the tax preparation industry and a tax code that is forbiddingly complex, the billions flowing into low-income households this time of year, primarily in the form of the earned-income tax credit, present a ripe target for the unscrupulous.

That was from the news article, too, probably because there's "almost no regulation" in the newspaper industry.

Another passage from the text:

Cedrick R., 57, who did not want to give his full name because he was embarrassed about his predicament, learned from a volunteer in Mr. Black's organization this year that his preparer, who worked out of a strip mall near Tuscaloosa, Ala., had been claiming a full-time college credit on his returns, inflating his refund and taking half for herself.

That's from the news article, too, and a good one for the Times public editor's anony-watch feature. Maybe he did not want to give his full name not only because he was embarrassed but also because he didn't want to attract the attention of the IRS.

Another passage from the text:

Of the 142 million individual income tax returns filed in 2011, 79 million were completed by paid preparers, and a majority of those, 42 million, were filled out by preparers who were neither licensed nor regulated.

That was from the opinion article, which was almost certainly edited by an unlicensed and unregulated Times opinion editor.

Another passage from the text:

With few barriers to entry, the field of tax preparation has drawn unscrupulous players. Many of them target low-income families who claim the earned-income tax credit, the nation's single biggest antipoverty program.

That was from the opinion article. Note the use of the word "unscrupulous," same as in the news article. Note also the hyperlink to the Times news article, which is pretty neat for an article published the same day as the Times opinion piece.

More from the text:

On Tuesday, the Senate Finance Committee will hold a hearing on the issue, which Senator Ron Wyden described as a priority for him as committee chairman.

That was from the news article.

And more:

The new chairman of the Senate's tax-writing committee, Ron Wyden, Democrat of Oregon, and the committee's top Republican, Orrin G. Hatch of Utah, are holding a hearing today on protecting taxpayers from "incompetent and unethical" preparers.

That was from the opinion article.

Related Topics:Taxesreceive the latest by email: subscribe to the free smartertimes.com mailing list